Blues Control announce tour, turn loose “Iron Pigs” in support of Drag City debut Valley Tangents

Blues Control, where do I know you from? Did I catch you opening for Animal Collective, once upon a time? Am I confusing your name with the commonly-used phrase, “lose control”? Couldn’t your alias also be an appropriately fitting title for a hypothetical cover band comprised of middle-aged men known for wearing their sunglasses excessively, and at unprescribed times?

Clarity has come in the form of a press release, as well as our previous reporting. Essentially, if you aren’t intimately familiar with the experimental duo already, there’s a strong chance of that changing in a couple of months. Blues Control are Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse, out of Lehigh Valley, PA. Cho (wo)mans (in a non-disparaging sense) the keyboards, and Waterhouse handles the guitar, synthesizer, and tape equipment. Their latest work has ventured assuredly into full-fledged ambient territory, but they’ve just as easily shown a willingness to pursue something a little less easy on the ears. On June 19, Blues Control will be releasing Valley Tangents, their first album as Drag City signatories. Immediately following, they’ll embark on a medium-sized tour, visiting cities within reasonable proximity to their Pennsylvania haunt.

Additionally, Blues Control have released “Iron Pigs,” their first track from the new album, which you can check out at Ad Hoc. As a contrast to their more emotionally soothing pieces, the song is an apparent (though mild) transition to Drag City’s general modus operandi. Keep an ear out for those brass synth sounds as well; am I detecting an homage to the original Super Mario Kart? I’m hearing it. Whether they intended it or not, I’m totally hearing it.

Blues Control, where do I know you from? Did I catch you opening for Animal Collective, once upon a time? Am I confusing your name with the commonly-used phrase, “lose control”? Couldn’t your alias also be an appropriately fitting title for a hypothetical cover band comprised of middle-aged men known for wearing their sunglasses excessively, and at unprescribed times?

Clarity has come in the form of a press release, as well as our previous reporting. Essentially, if you aren’t intimately familiar with the experimental duo already, there’s a strong chance of that changing in a couple of months. Blues Control are Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse, out of Lehigh Valley, PA. Cho (wo)mans (in a non-disparaging sense) the keyboards, and Waterhouse handles the guitar, synthesizer, and tape equipment. Their latest work has ventured assuredly into full-fledged ambient territory, but they’ve just as easily shown a willingness to pursue something a little less easy on the ears. On June 19, Blues Control will be releasing Valley Tangents, their first album as Drag City signatories. Immediately following, they’ll embark on a medium-sized tour, visiting cities within reasonable proximity to their Pennsylvania haunt.

Additionally, Blues Control have released “Iron Pigs,” their first track from the new album, which you can check out at Ad Hoc. As a contrast to their more emotionally soothing pieces, the song is an apparent (though mild) transition to Drag City’s general modus operandi. Keep an ear out for those brass synth sounds as well; am I detecting an homage to the original Super Mario Kart? I’m hearing it. Whether they intended it or not, I’m totally hearing it.

They say he was born in Germany, a military brat who was born to rock. They say he’s an inventor with loads of wacky inventions (like The Drum Buddy and the Spit Machine). They say he married his first cousin. (Well, those are things Wikipedia says people say.) He’s a one man band shrouded in mystery, that Quintron. He doesn’t give a s%$& about the media, he doesn’t give a %$^& about facts; all he cares about is bringing blazin’ hot organ jams and wondrous puppet shows to fans around the globe. And on that note, there’s one thing about Quintron and his wife/bandmate/puppeteer Miss Pussycat that’s not a mystery — what they’re going to do on their summer vacation.

For the New Orleans-based duo, every season is tour season. So right now, they’re on the road, racking up miles on the van and experiencing the finest in American truck stop bathrooms. Quintron hasn’t released a full-length since Sucre de Sauvage came out last spring, but naturally the pair have a thing or two packed in their bag of tricks for this tour. Starting April 27, Quintron will have a limited run of 100 cassette tapes demonstrating his latest and greatest invention: the Singing House. Out on the Temple of Pei label, the Singing House is like a white noise machine tuned into the vibes of your! very! own! house that makes its own specialized music. You can watch a video of the device here. In the immortal words of Kanye West, “that s&^* cray.” But if that’s not cray enough for ya, Miss Pussycat will have DVD copies of Season 2 of her puppet mystery series, Trixie and the Tree Trunks. God, I love these people. Joining Quintron and Miss Pussycat for select West Coast dates will be fellow weird traveler Dent May and his dazzling 60s-style lounge jams.

Summer’s creeping up real fast, and I’m jonesin’ to make like Jack Kerouac and hit the road. I just want to be in jorts and write long, wild poems while zipping down the highway, you know? How about we pile into an old Jeep with Blitzen Trapper and catch a few shows? They’re still real keen on American Goldwing, which came out on Sub Pop back in September, way before road trip season. Now, we can drive with the windows down and listen to Neil Young cassettes and stop to drink whiskey with old friends on their back porches and maybe swim in a river or two. I’ll even learn how to play the harmonica.

Come on. I know you’re still bummed that you overslept on Record Store Day and couldn’t snag a copy of Blitzen Trapper’s “Hey Joe”/”Skirts on Fire” 7-inch, but cheer up, buttercup. You can watch the brand spankin’ new video for “Stranger in a Strange Land” as many times as you want. It’s three minutes of good old-fashioned Alaska rambling. Just the thing to get you in the spirit for a summer that’d make Dean Moriarty proud.

America and Europe have clearly embraced the loveable bunch of rascals we endearingly refer to as Death Grips (TMT Review). Case in point? The band, already scheduled to play every single music festival in Europe and mid-sized venue in the Northeast, has announced the expansion of their tour into America’s heartland and great frontier West. No longer only available to the upper echelons of ‘liberal’ society in socialist Europe and America’s snooty East Coast cities, it’s the everyman in Kansas and Colorado’s turn to enjoy some true American experimental hardcore hip-hop live and in person.

Even in Chicago, where I’m located, the early show time (6:30 PM) was clearly chosen so Death Grips’ older and younger fans have a chance to make it out. I hear nursing homes and primary schools are organizing bus trips to The Bottom Lounge this summer as the demand is so high amongst these otherwise disenfranchised sections of the music enjoying public. When a band goes on at 12:30 AM, it’s just too late for Grandma, no matter how much she likes the new Acid Mothers Temple record!

Join the legions who have already purchased tickets and plan to see Death Grips when they roll through your town — if you live in two out of the seven continents, chances are they won’t be too far away at some point in the next three months.